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April 30, 2009

Swine Flu Trends

Last year, Google released a report which showed that flu-related search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses information about the popularity of some searches in the US to estimate flu activity almost in real-time.

The experiment has been expanded to the searches from Mexico, the country that has the largest number of reported cases of swine flu. "Unlike Google Flu Trends for U.S., Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico was not built using historical data on flu symptoms. This means the models have not been checked against actual historic flu data from Mexico and thus the estimates you see for Mexico are unverified. The models for Mexico are based on aggregated search queries likely to be associated with influenza-like illness."

Google's search data showed that flu-related queries started to become more frequent this month. "Last week, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Google took a retroactive look at its search data from Mexico. And there the team found a pre-media bump in telltale flu-related search terms (you know, "influenza + phlegm + coughing") that was inconsistent with standard, seasonal flu trends," reports Wired. "The system has detected increases in flu-related searches in Mexico City (Distrito Federal) and a few other Mexican states in recent days, beginning early in the week of April 19-25," informs Google's blog.

A map that lists the latest cases of swine flu is available at Google Maps.

21 comments:

We should be cautious and take measures to prevent widespread of flu.Keeping ourselves updated at this point of time is highly essential.I have found a way to track Swine Flu case updates in all neighborhoods through a tracklet at http://www.trackle.com.

Could it be possible that the swine flu was brought about from the big pork production manufactures ? Considering all of the "stuff" that is put into the pigs food and water to make them grow faster ? What are the possiblities of this happening ? Has anyone looked into this to see if there could be any relation ? Could it be that from people eating this product has made the transition of the swine flu to humans easier ? Just some questions I was thinking about. Does anyone have any answers to these questions ? Have they been asked ?

Look,if only one person died in th U.S. and it happened to be a kid that probably just got here from Mexico, don't you think few to none people would die because after going through the flu, our immune systems would adapt to it and the chances of getting it again would be slim. Eventually, every one will be close to immune to it. That or we'll just find a way to cure it. I think people are taking this too seriously.

I think there are a couple of bloggers here who need a refresher course in Biology and maybe a visit to a shrink. No, additives in pig feed has nothing to do with the flu. And www.swineflu.com needs a major paranoia check. I always wonder why people would rather believe ridiculous things than science. For myself, I think it's too early to know what this could turn into. And I remind others that acquired immunity to one strain of flu doesn't guarantee immunity to other forms.

He ppl don't blame Mexico is not their fault don't like theirs no cure the U.S.A has deal with the flu since 1968 and have keep it in the dl. the government is just using this to get all immigrants deported. why. were all human whats the difference between a Mexican and a white or Africa-America just take away the raise were they were born and what are u left with 2 humans no different then from each other.Just wait the goverment cant hold this 4 long he will have to give the cure soon

Just because that one kid was from Mexico doesn't mean it doesn't count. He was IN america which means he could have spread the disease. Another thing, the flu virus mutates, you can always get it again. Besides, statistically we're due another pandemic, which is why we should be cautious about this one. Blocking the border won't do anything. They'll still get here. Its in New York already. Keep your distance and wash your hands. Thats all you can do. The swine flu won't be passed by eating pork. If you ate a human and they had the flu you most likely wouldn't get it. Why? Because they're dead they can't breathe on you. You just eat the meat, you dont actually play twister with it first. The swine flu is actually a combination of swine flu, avian flu, and the common human influenza. Take is seriously people, please.

all i want to say is the kill rate right now (in the US) is .7%. so out of 1000 people only 7 would die from it. and mexicos kill rate is 3.84%. 38.4 people would die out of 1,000 in mexico. so the total for all the confirmed cases is 527 and the total for all deaths that are confirmed to be caused by H1N1 (swine flu) is 13, so the total kill rate is 2.45%. so out of 1000, 24.5 people would die. so the total world pop is 6.77 billion so with the kill rate being the highest so far of 3.84, and lets round the 6.77 billion to 6 billion as some of the world pop wont even be exposed the total death would be 230,400,000 people. which isn't even close to accurate as the flu is more suseptibal to elderlys and kids. and some of the population is in rural places where the likely hood of them being exposed is very slim. so the total population of US is 306,330,649 and going with the highest kill rate of 3.84, death toll will be 117,631. so wyoming is the lowest populated state containing 532,688 people. so 22% of wyomings residents would die. not to sound morbid but we have more people die from drugs, car wrecks, and cancer. why are we not more concerened on fixing our problems with other things? hell i have a higher chance of dieing when i cross the road on my way home from school.

This is all crap to make us not feel so broke when Obama spends trillions of dollars on health care. The swine flu has been around for a long time. Same symptoms as the flu and same remedies. Most people make a full recovery without drugs or seeing the doctor. Relenza can help cure and even prevent the swine flu. Its just a new strain so people who got the flu shot will be affected as much as a person who didnt. They are blowing this way out of context. The question is why? Everyone is scared and paranoid. Closing the schools and cancelling sporting events. They say the kids can go back to school on May 7th. Is the swine flu going to be gone on may 7th? lol ..... seriously, who listens to our BS government anymore? they are just a bunch of terrorist....lol.....scare scare scare....Next they will have us mail flu, so you dont pay ur bills.

I got the swine flu a few weeks ago... It was NOT as bad as everyone made it out to be. I just did my normal Flu strategy: Eat Soup, Sleep Lots, Wait Till I Feel Better, and I was good after a day and a half. I didn't even need that Tamiflu prescription the doc tried to get me to buy!